


best and happiest of all, the time

by Grassy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ereri Secret Santa 2015, Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5496599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grassy/pseuds/Grassy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three moments, three separate winter holiday seasons; past, present, and future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	best and happiest of all, the time

**Author's Note:**

> For [xxdeja-uchihaxx](http://xxdeja-uchihaxx.tumblr.com/).
> 
> I, uh. Really hope this suits your tastes. The prompt was kind of broad and I totally ran with it before I even though about whether or not to ask you about taking things in any specific direction. *covers face* Sometimes I think too much, sometimes I don't think at all, haha…
> 
> Title and section names come from _A Christmas Carol_ by Charles Dickens.

**Christmas Past**

“Oi, Eren!”

Eren reared back, startled by both the deep voice suddenly in his ear and the hand with a death grip upon the back of his shirt. Knee-jerk rage slid into a bright smile at the person physically waylaying him. Pale skin, dark clothes, darker hair; buckled and chained boots that jacked him up to just above Eren's own height. No matter the resting murder face Levi sported—made even fiercer by his multitude of piercings—Eren couldn't help being somewhat giddy every time they interacted. (Mikasa may have, once or thrice, mentioned something about happy puppies that piddled themselves in excitement.

…occasionally, Eren was keenly reminded that Mikasa was Levi's cousin.)

“Levi! Did you need something or just want to say _hi/bye_ in a dick-ish way?”

Levi rolled his eyes, pulling Eren in closer to thwap him upside the head with his free hand before letting loose. “No, dumbass. Hange said you left this in the art supplies closet.”

Eren had a moment to be jealous of the fingers slipping into Levi's back pocket—in truth, Eren often had such moments. Levi's pants were the maneuverable kind of form-fitting that showed off his amazing… _assets_ to perfection—the next, Eren was dodging the small, zippered case holding his nail art pens tossed at his face while simultaneously attempting to also catch it before it hit the ground.

“I was looking for this! Thank you, Levi!” Eren beamed at him, hiding his glee at the hint of pink on those ultra-pale features.

“Whatever.” Levi turned to stalk off, but Eren tangled his fingers into the multitude of chains upon Levi's belt to stop him. Doing his best not to cringe at the glare aimed his way or—his hand was _so close_ to—take liberties that would see Eren broke in half. “The fuck?”

“Just- here.” Eren let loose his grip, pushing aside naughty thoughts of Levi, buckles, and chains. “Gimme your hands real quick.”

A pierced eyebrow raised, suspicious eyes running down Eren's face to grasping, gesturing hands.

“Not for! Just. Please?” Eyes wide the way Armin had taught him, Eren waited. And waited.

“…fine.”

“Don't worry,” Eren reassured him, grinning, “I know you'll kick me in the dick or worse if I do something gross.”

“Damn fucking right.” Both of Levi's brows raised as Eren pulled out one of the dual-colored nail pens currently in the case Levi had returned to him, shaking then uncapping one side as he took hold of a hand.

“But really, this is just me thanking you.”

“Hn.”

Had Eren looked up, he would have seen the soft hint of an actual smile on Levi's face as he watched Eren draw something, switching colors as he switched hands—circles or swirls, maybe? Levi's focus was more on messy hair that wound around the black frames of Eren's glasses. How the combination made the vibrant, sea-green of his eyes stand out even more. The way Eren bit lightly on his lower lip as he smiled, accomplished-

“There. Done.”

Capping the pen, Eren glanced away as he slid the case into a side pocket of his backpack. Which gave Levi the chance to school his own expression before studying the patterns still wet on his fingernails.

“…not bad,” Levi admitted, admiring how the bright red candy cane and green wreath contrasted against the stark black of his nail polish.

“I thought you might like it.” Cheeks pinked, pleased, as Eren beamed. “This way you can flip people off in full holiday spirit.”

“No better way to piss them off, really. Except possibly smiley faces.”

About to retort, a chime from his phone caught Eren's attention. A text from Armin?

“Ah, _shit_ , I gotta go. I've got the keys and Mikasa will hotwire my car again if I take too long. Thanks again!” Eren waved as he ran off to the front parking lot.

Levi kept himself from waving back. Annoyed as fuck that he even wanted to in the first place, no matter how pretty Eren was.

But he made sure to be careful of his nails, waiting for them to dry rather than rushing out of the building as per usual. The designs and intent behind them amused Levi and besides, it wasn't every day that Eren did nail art—even something so minimal—without being paid in food or favors (or cash, if you were Jean).

Not a bad start to Christmas break.

 

**Christmas Present**

“Why do you still wear that,” Eren asked, face scrunched up in dismay. Not from the cold, unlike Levi, since Eren was practically a walking furnace. Which was annoying as fuck the times when Levi wasn't directly benefiting from it.

The scarf Levi wore with pride was old, lumpy; alternately too tight and too loose in places it shouldn't be. The only plus was that despite years of wear, with the care Levi had taken of it the color was still a stark black. _Old shame_ weren't strong enough words to cover how Eren felt every fucking time the weather turned cold and _that thing_ was brought out.

“Because you made it for me.” _Dumbass_ , he didn't bother adding; Eren knew him well enough to hear it in Levi's tone. “Unless you're offering to replace it with another one you've made yourself?”

Eren quirked a brow, gesturing with his free hand toward the hat covering Levi's Skrillex cut.

“You could just knit it yourself, same as you did that.”

“Fuck no.” Levi's horrified expression spoke for itself.

No way was Levi losing out to Mikasa in the Scarf War after _years_ of uncontested victory. Not when he had one Eren actually knitted himself—no matter how shitty—and she'd been given one of Eren's…that had been knitted by Carla. Even a shitty-looking scarf was the clear winner. And it was long enough that Levi could wrap it around enough times to keep warm, no matter the spots that sneakily let in cold air. (Seriously, the damn thing was nearly twice as long as Levi was tall.)

“Learn how to do it better,” Levi offered instead. Reluctantly, Levi unlinked his gloved pinky from Eren's as he made for the driver's side of the car.

“Yeah, no. I really don't see that happening.”

“Then get used to me wearing this until the end of fucking time.”

 

**Christmas Yet to Come**

It was a tradition that had begun before they'd ever moved into their shitty, too-small apartment together. And not even their being busy prepping to move out of the shithole—they'd been able to afford it for years, but had only recently found a place in an area that didn't leave one or the other with an insanely long commute to work—had managed to change that.

With the decorations packed away, leaving Eren unable to make his annual attempt at outdoing his parents' house-wide holiday splendor within an apartment that was already too-small for the five of them—if one counted their roommates of the feline persuasion, which Eren always did no matter what Levi tried to claim—Eren was even more insistent upon holding to their other traditions. Not that Levi minded, not when it made Eren happy; especially with how stressful moving had turned out to be despite Levi being as organized as he was (and had trained Eren to be over the years).

Said tradition had evolved over the years from an earlier incarnation that much more greatly resembled a drunken, bastardized amalgam of _Truth or Dare_ and _I Never_. Currently, it consisted of consuming eggnog or mulled wine or the _special_ hot chocolate while divulging some sort of secret. Which basically amounted to booze and unprompted Truth.

“Hmm…” Contemplative, Levi clicked rhythmically against the side of his mug with a fingernail, licking away marshmallow fluff from the hoops he wore in his lip. “Alright. The first time I saw you after we moved here, I thought you'd turned into an Abercrombie zombie douchebag or something with the onset of puberty. Then I realized that, no, you just had a serious hard-on for plaid and wore jeans until they were so torn and paint-splattered that your mother fucking _burned_ them to make you buy new ones. Either way, it hurt to look at you so I stayed the hell away.”

Eren's face contorted comically, insult warring with humor. Levi sipped at his hot chocolate to hide a smirk while avoiding Eren's sock-clad feet as they kicked lightly at his own from the other end of the couch.

“So what changed your mind,” Eren finally asked, having trapped Levi's feet beneath the warmth of his own.

“You and Jean got into a throw down for some stupid-as-fuck reason and nearly destroyed each other in the parking lot. You lost all the buttons on your shirt and didn't have anything underneath it.”

“The abs, then.”

“Fucking right, the abs. So I said the fuck with it. Obviously you'd outgrown the baby fat, if not the rage issues. Clothes were at least possible to fix.”

“I guess that does explain why the first real conversation you ever initiated with me back then was asking if you could see me naked.” A small hiccup of a laugh escaped Eren at the memory.

“Which I cleverly followed up by saying it was for an art project.”

“Because you're _such_ a smooth bastard.” Eren rolled his eyes. “You never took any art classes. Even now, stick figures are beyond you.”

“But I did get to see you naked. Eventually.” After much awkward and fail.

“Very true.” Eren saluted Levi with his mug before taking a large sip. “Now. For me.”

Levi perked up, intrigued.

“Mine's a bit more recent than yours. But.” Brows furrowed, Eren set his mug aside; scooting closer to do the same with Levi's. Taking Levi's hands in his own, Eren breathed deeply before meeting Levi's eyes straight on.

“I knew I loved you when we were teenagers, when you made sure to kick me in the ass to keep me from neglecting my friends, no matter how attached at the hip you and I'd become.”

Eren kissed the backs of Levi's hands before continuing.

“I knew I was in love with you your senior year, when you were dealing with college applications. Still not proud about my assholery then, but. I didn't want to be where you weren't.”

Levi tangled his fingers around Eren's own with a reassuring squeeze. He'd had his own worries of a similar bent back then that he'd mostly shoved aside to focus on school shit. And though Eren's assholery _had_ been fucking epic—Levi hadn't been much of a slouch, either—it'd at least spurred on the arguments that prompted them to start getting their shit together and grow the fuck up.

“And somewhere in there I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. With the cats you bring home and feed and play with then claim are actually mine. With your cleaning regimens and excessive organization. With your willingness to knit anything but a scarf for yourself. Just. Your _everything_.”

That soft, half-smile of Levi's was Eren's favorite, was the one Levi didn't show anyone else.

“If this is you trying to propose, you're too late. We did the marriage thing years ago.”

“No, asshole,” Eren laughed, bumping his forehead against Levi's gently. “That's not it. I just… If you don't want to, it's okay. But. I would really like to see what kind of kid we'd raise together.”

One blink. Two. Three. Levi stared, absorbing what Eren had said.

“Oh.” Uncertain of what to even say to that, Levi reaffirmed his grip on Eren's hands. He couldn't answer, but he also couldn't _not_ -

“It's okay, y'know. Unless you've already been thinking about it—and I can seriously tell you haven't—I really don't want an answer or anything right now. It's not something you choose on a whim; I mean, it's a human _life_. But I would like it to be something we talk about, eventually. No matter what we might choose in the end.”

“Alright.” Levi leaned in to kiss Eren, soft but intent. “I don't know if it's something I want, now or ever, but. I want us to talk about it until I do know. Until _we_ know.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Eren slid off his glasses, setting them aside as Levi drew him in for another kiss. More heated, more tongue. Still just as gentle.

Levi tasted of marshmallow and chocolate and Bailey's.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Miscellaneous notes/head-canons, since I don't know if I'll ever re-visit this 'verse or not:**  
>  – The boots I mention of Levi's? Totally something along [these lines](http://www.sinistersoles.com/CHARADE-206-Knee-High-Platform-Boots-p/s-demonia-charade-206-boots.htm). Though once Eren's finished growing, even with the boots he's still got a couple of inches in height on Levi.  
> – And, uh. Eren's glasses? Are kinda [like this](http://www.classicspecs.com/mens-eyeglasses/959mg/mens-eyeglasses-wayward-matte-black), I suppose.  
> – Eren had seen Levi off and on over the years when Levi's family came to visit Mikasa's. Even then he'd been a tiny, foul-mouthed badass with creative tastes in revenge so Eren—easily driven to rage as he could be at times—kept well enough away (despite his visible hero worship, because _Levi_ ). Then Kuchel divorced Isabel's father and she relocated them closer to family that wasn't her crazy-ass brother. Just as puberty was hitting Eren hard with the idea that _short, scary, attractive people are totally what makes you hard, asshole_. The less said about his five-minute crush on Annie, the better. (No, literally, _five minutes_. She kicked his ass and he was shoujo-sparkling in the aftermath…then Eren saw Armin's face. And Mikasa's. Nope. Nope. Not _even_ going there.) With the return of Levi… Yeah…  
>  – The first time Eren was going to tell Levi he loved him, he began drawing a heart on Levi's thumb nail…but chickened out in the end and altered it into a heartagram. It was only the first of many failed attempts. Luckily, Levi had already figured it out and thought Eren's awkwardness was adorable as fuck for someone who was usually better at that shit than Levi. (Which. Didn't actually say much because Levi was _fucking awful_ at those sorts of things. But still.)


End file.
